没有鞋跟的跑鞋
图片来自FBR
Looking at the new running shoes unveiled by Spanish start-up FBR you would be forgiven for thinking it incomplete, but the missing heel in the sole is actually by design.
如果你看一眼西班牙初创公司FBR所推出的新型跑鞋，或许会认为它并不完整，但事实上，鞋底所缺少的鞋跟其实是故意设计的。
Athletic trainer Franc Beneyto came up with the idea for a heelless running shoe five years ago, after reading the book “Running with the Kenyans”, by Adharanand Finn, a journalist and amateur runner who lived for a few months in Kenya with athletes and coaches to investigate why they were able to run more, faster and get injured less frequently than others. In the book, Finn wrote that Kenyans had refined a natural running technique that didn’t require the support of the heel, but instead relied on the Achilles tendon, plantar arch, soleus and calf muscle. That got him thinking, and one day he just cut off the heel of a running shoe to see what running in it would feel like.
田径教练Franc Beneyto于5年前看到记者兼业余跑步者Adharanand Finn所著的《Running with the Kenyans》一书之后，构想出了无鞋跟跑鞋这一概念。Finn在肯尼亚与当地运动员和教练共同生活了数月之久，以便弄清他们在跑步时为何比其他人跑得更远、更快，并且更少受伤。
Finn在这本书中写道，肯尼亚人已经完善出了一种不需要足跟支撑的自然跑步技术，只需依靠跟腱、足底弓、比目鱼肌，以及小腿肌即可。该书引发了Beneyto的思考，直到有一天他砍掉了跑鞋的鞋跟，决定亲身尝试跑起来感觉到底怎么样。
“The feeling of power and freedom were incredible,” Beneyto told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “The ankle acted like a spring that catapulted me forward with every step, so I just decided that I had to implement this concept as it was.”
试跑之后，Beneyto说道：「那种力量感与自由感令人难以置信。」「脚踝的作用就像一个弹簧，每跑一步都会推动我前进，所以我决定必须实现这个概念」。
A few months later, Beneyto met Javier Gámez, a renowned doctor in biomechanics who recognized the potential of his heelless running shoe concept and proposed to have it analyzed at Sheffield Hallam University, in England, one of the best academic institutions in the world in sports engineering. The FBR shoe was compared to other conventional running shoes, and the results were so surprising that they were presented at various international Biomechanics and Podiatry congresses.
几个月后，Beneyto遇到了著名生物力学医生Javier Gámez，后者意识到了无鞋跟跑鞋概念的潜力，并提议将其送去英国谢菲尔德哈勒姆大学进行分析，这是世界上最好的体育工程学学术机构之一。在对FBR鞋与其他传统跑鞋进行比较之后，结果令人极为惊讶，从此他俩就出现在了各种国际生物力学和足病学大会上。
The Faculty of Physiotherapy of Valencia began testing the FBR concept on injured athletes, and the results of their research were equally impressive.
随后，瓦伦西亚物理治疗学院开始让受伤运动员测试FBR这一概念，他们的研究结果同样令人印象深刻
“Runners with various ailments returned to train normally after a progressive use of FBR prototypes thanks to the minimization of the impact of each footprint and a favorable change in their technique,” El Mundo reported.
据报道，在逐渐使用FBR原型之后，由于足迹影响的最小化以及技术的有利改进，患有各种疾病的跑步者开始恢复正常训练了。
So what makes the FBR heelless shoe so special? Well, Beneyto says that it promotes a running technique supported by the metatarsal, which prevents joint injuries, whereas modern conventional running shoes incorporate more and more cushioning back, which modifies our natural way of running and makes injuries more frequent.
对此，Beneyto解释称，无鞋跟跑鞋促使跑步者利用跖骨支撑，从而防止关节损伤，而现代的常规跑鞋则包含越来越多的缓冲，这改变了我们的自然跑步方式，使得伤病更加频繁。
“The cushioning does not eliminate the impact, it only decreases a bit and it continues to damage the joints,” Beneyto said.
缓冲并不能消除冲击，只会减少一点，并继续对关节造成损伤。
FBR(Faster & Better Runners) was founded by Franc Beneyto in collaboration with a team of researchers in biomechanics, designers, podiatrists, physiotherapists, lawyers, journalists and athletic trainers. Beneyto said that the decision to create their own company to produce the heelless running shoe was taken after numerous companies, both Spanish and foreign showed little interest in developing it.“We knocked on the doors of the main sports brands, both Spanish and foreign, to develop them, but many did not answer, so with great effort, we have managed to manufacture them in the Alicante area (Spain)” the entrepreneur said.
Beneyto表示，在许多公司(包括西班牙与外国公司)都表示对其研发没什么兴趣之后，他决定建立自己的公司来生产无鞋跟跑鞋。最后，他联手由生物力学研究者、设计师、足病医生、物理治疗师、律师、记者、以及运动训练师所组成的研究团队，合作创立了FBR(Faster & Better Runners) 这一品牌。
